The playoff hopes of the Atlanta Falcons might rest on the outcome of this week’s game against New Orleans, but the second-worst run defense is going to have trouble containing the Saints two-headed monster of Mark Ingram and rookie Alvin Kamara in the backfield.

Kamara is the No. 1-rated running back per the game charters at Pro Football Focus in addition to averaging over five yards per carry after defenders close within one yard. No other rusher is better in this regard per the NFL’s NextGen Stats. Ingram, meanwhile, averages 3.2 yards per carry after contact, second only to the Steelers’ Le’Veon Bell.

The Jets actually have exceeded expectations, with five victories and counting in a season that began with them being accused of tanking in pursuit of the top overall selection in the NFL draft. Whether that is enough to keep Bowles around remains to be seen.

Owner Jerry Jones’s ire has been aimed at the league office and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for the six-game suspension of running back Ezekiel Elliott under the personal conduct policy. Jones has remained supportive of Garrett. But the disappointment is great after the Cowboys began the season with such a firm conviction that they were Super Bowl-bound in Year 2 in the league for Elliott and quarterback Dak Prescott. There just mind be some leftover blame to be spread around.

Mr. Elliot’s representatives argued in a meeting that maybe Ms. Thompson fell down stairs, Harvey said. There was no witness to say she fell down stairs and there was no photograph of her falling down stairs. The representatives also proposed that Thompson could have injured herself bumping into tables while on the job as a restaurant server or could have gotten into a fight with another woman, Harvey said.

The NFL investigators, however, were not buying that. The evidence does not support finding mitigating or aggravating factors, it wrote to Elliott.

The league also told Elliott that it won’t be considering the St. Patrick’s Day incident for additional discipline but called it inappropriate and disturbing. According to reports, the league did not consider Elliott’s alleged participation in a July altercation at a Dallas nightclub during which a D.J.’s nose was broken.

But it was more than that. This game is hard to watch for a number of reasons, Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman tweeted. Terrible for the NFL and the game of football overall. The Smith-Schuster hit brought a milder reaction from ESPN’s Jon Gruden, who wondered why he wasn’t ejected rather than merely flagged for unnecessary roughness, which was automatically declined, and taunting, a 15-yard penalty.